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[2013] Bitcoin May Be the Global Economy's Last Safe Haven

pgnewarkboy said:
A fool and his bit coins are quickly parted. Owning bit coins is the equivalent of having a sign around your neck that says Please Rob Me. PT Barnum famously said 'a sucker is born every minute'.
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I hate to write this, but you really don't know what you're saying.


Sent from my iPad
 
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For Bitcoin, Secure Future Might Need Oversight - by Farhad Manjoo/ Technology/ The New York Times.com

... In the last few years the conventional financial system has lurched from one new fraud to another — from Bernie Madoff to MF Global to the hacking at Target — and yet nobody suggests abandoning dollars as a means of trade. Why aren’t we just as forgiving in our approach to Bitcoin?..."

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Mark Karpeles, left, attended a news conference after his company, Mt. Gox, a Japan-based Bitcoin exchange, filed for bankruptcy. Credit Kimimasa Mayama/European Pressphoto Agency


Richard
 
Ken555 said:
I hate to write this, but you really don't know what you're saying.


Sent from my iPad
Click to expand...

In light of the inevitable debacle? OK-my language was a little strong. Maybe there was a better way of putting it.

People who invested in Bitcoins did so ignoring or in spite of the obvious risks of placing money in an untested, unregulated, currency that might be easily and secretly manipulated by unknown players anywhere in the world. Money that might be easily stolen because it might be placed in the hands of untested and unknown people and organizations. It has obvious allure for criminal and other dark operations. Some will say "any currency is subject to manipulation etc. etc." Currency trading in real recognized, tested, currency is regulated all over the world and there are criminal law enforcement people all over the world ready to step in to find those who violate law, or regulation. Not so much for Bitcoin.

To quote from the article of mr. Manjoo, cited above:

"But the comparison between Citigroup’s loss and the fall of Mt. Gox highlights just how unusual and untamable digital currency can be. When scandal engulfs traditional financial institutions like Citigroup, there are investigations and calls for greater oversight — human oversight. Bitcoin, though, was born of mistrust of humans and their institutions. It rests on the belief that financial safety emerges from the integrity of the technology, a computer code that controls a payment system, rather than the trustworthiness of the humans who participate in it.

To save their nascent currency, Bitcoin’s backers may be forced to alter their philosophy and embrace the same messy humans — auditors, insurers and even regulators — that the currency’s most ardent supporters have long abhorred. This raises two difficult questions: Can human oversight integrate into Bitcoin’s free-for-all ethos quickly enough to render Bitcoin safe? And, can Bitcoin be made safer without tamping down on the very openness that proponents say makes Bitcoin such a cheap, efficient and innovative financial platform? At the moment, the answers are still very much up in the air.
"
 
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pgnewarkboy said:
In light of the inevitable debacle? OK-my language was a little strong. Maybe there was a better way of putting it.
Click to expand...


Yes. However, your most recent post discusses the pitfalls of a new currency which is very different from your earlier post. Discussing the merits of the currency and whether or not one should own it given the obvious issues which anyone serious at acquiring these coins would know is very different than a blanket statement that owning these coins is tantamount to asking to be robbed.


Sent from my iPad
 
Bitcoin's Elusive Founder Reportedly Discovered Living in California - by Jamie Rigg/ Engadget.com

"There have been many theories bandied about as to the true identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin. Nothing conclusive has married the name to an individual or group, but now Newsweek claims to have found the Nakamoto, a 64-year-old Japanese-American man of the same name residing in California..."

The Face Behind Bitcoin - by Leah McGrath Goodman/ newsweek.com

You Decide.

67-2014-3-14-cover.jpg

The reclusive inventor of the troubled virtual currency has been hiding in plain sight Priest + Grace

AP Exclusive: Man Denies He's Bitcoin Founder - by Ryan Nakashima/ The Big Story/ ap.org

''The man Newsweek claims is the founder of Bitcoin denied he had anything to do with the digital currency..."

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Dorian S. Nakamoto listens during an interview with the Associated Press, Thursday, March 6, 2014 in Los Angeles. Nakamoto, the man that Newsweek claims is the founder of Bitcoin, denies he had anything to do with it and says he had never even heard of the digital currency until his son told him he had been contacted by a reporter three weeks ago. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)


Richard
 
The founder of Bitcoin wants to remain anonymous. Wow. Bitcoin seems like a black hole in the ground. The deeper you dig the less light there is. Or a black hole in "outer space". You don't know what is going on inside it but it sucks up everything that comes near it and makes it disappear.
 
Here's Why Bitcoin Matters - by Jose Pagliery/ Tech/ Money/cnn.com

Bitcoin matters, ignore the media circus.


140307094059-dorian-nakamoto-bitcoin-reporters-620xa.jpg

This may or may not be the creator of Bitcoin. But who cares? Bitcoin isn't going away.


Richard
 
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Mt. Gox Finds $115 Million of 'Lost Bitcoin', But is Still Missing 650,000 BTC's - from TheNextWeb.com


"Mt. Gox, the fallen Bitcoin exchange, has chanced upon a significant discovery after it found 200,000 ‘lost’ Bitcoin (worth around $115 million on today’s rates) in an unused account, Endgaget reports.

The Tokyo-based company has misplaced around 850,000 Bitcoins, owned by both its customers and the company itself. The exchange is investigating the discovery, which gives some cause for optimism from those who had given up all hope of getting their stash back..."


Richard
 
MULTIZ321 said:
Mt. Gox Finds $115 Million of 'Lost Bitcoin', But is Still Missing 650,000 BTC's - from TheNextWeb.com





"Mt. Gox, the fallen Bitcoin exchange, has chanced upon a significant discovery after it found 200,000 ‘lost’ Bitcoin (worth around $115 million on today’s rates) in an unused account, Endgaget reports.



The Tokyo-based company has misplaced around 850,000 Bitcoins, owned by both its customers and the company itself. The exchange is investigating the discovery, which gives some cause for optimism from those who had given up all hope of getting their stash back..."





Richard
Click to expand...


What other business has ever "lost" $115,000,000? This has all the features of a movie sometime soon...

More importantly, it appears that the community has "fixed" the underlying problem which permitted some coins to be stolen. I haven't read much in the last few weeks about this but this is the expected outcome given the way the bitcoin process and development functions.


Sent from my iPad
 
Sound Familiar? Bitcoin Exchange Vircurex Freezes Customer Accounts As It Battles Insolvency - From TheNextWeb.com

"The implosion of Mt. Gox has been widely heralded as a sign of a new era of Bitcoin companies, but there are still examples of the unpredictable and shady side of the cryptocurrency world, as developments at Vircurex demonstrate.

The Beijing-based virtual currency exchange is much smaller than Mt. Gox, but it is notable that it has stopped withdrawals of Bitcoin, Litecoin and other coins today, and it will freeze all existing user accounts from Monday after running into serious financial issues..."


Richard
 
A Better Way to Buy Bitcoin? - by Michael Del Castillo/ Currency - Stories and Analysis of Wall Street and the World of Business/ The New Yorker.com

"...By then, Bitcoin had begun attracting mainstream attention, and the Harveys began to see a business opportunity in the currency itself. (In October, 2011, Joshua Davis wrote about Bitcoin and its mysterious creator in the magazine.) In February, 2013, Zach unfurled a plastic tarp on the floor of his new guitar store in Manchester, New Hampshire. Using materials from Home Depot, he started to assemble and paint a wooden prototype for a machine that would sell bitcoins. Such machines are often called Bitcoin A.T.M.s, which is a misnomer: they don’t allow people to deposit bitcoins or withdraw them from their own accounts. Instead, you put a few dollars into the Harveys’ construction, watch as they are converted into bitcoin, and tell the machine where to deposit the resulting encrypted-currency funds. (Typically, the bitcoins are deposited into an online account called a “wallet,” where they can be used to make purchases.)

The Harveys unveiled their prototype, programmed by Josh, at the Liberty Forum, a conference for anarchists and libertarians just a short drive from their guitar store. By that time, bitcoins cost thirty dollars each—up significantly from the twenty-five cents they cost when the Harveys first began accepting them in their Tel Aviv store, several years earlier. After the conference, the brothers closed the guitar shop and set up a new company called Lamassu, named after the Mesopotamian sculptures of winged lions
meant to protect the ancient civilization’s wealth and commerce..."

Richard
 
For Bitcoin: Lessons in the History of Failed Currencies - by Mark McKay/ Investing/ Forbes.com

"If someone were to perfect a flying car, governments around the world would be faced with a conundrum. Over the centuries humans have developed a transport system complete with quaint country streets, bustling six-lane highways, electronic toll booths and police officers to monitor it all. So should the powers that be try to fit the flying car into the current model or create a whole new scheme that allows the new technology to flourish?

A comparable question of positioning is the biggest challenge facing Bitcoin and other digital currencies, says Ed Moy former director of the United States Mint. In an interview earlier this year Moy said, “Government moves very slow and cautiously. Digital technology moves very quickly, so eventually the conflict is going to be crypto-currencies moving faster than what governments are comfortable with.”..."




Richard
 
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Mt. Gox Crumbles Into Liquidation, Throws Bitcoin Legitimacy Into Question - by Barry Levine/ Business/ VentureBeat.com

"“I hate gold. But right now, I’d rather own gold than Bitcoins.”

This sentiment comes from investment firm Belpoint’s chief strategist David Nelson. In a call today with VentureBeat, Nelson discussed implications of the news that Mt. Gox, once the largest Bitcoin exchange on the planet, has been ordered by a Tokyo court to begin liquidation.

The directive from the district court and the appointment of attorney Nobuaki Kobayashi as the bankruptcy trustee was announced in a document posted today on the Mt. Gox site. Last week, the Wall Street Journal first reported that Mt. Gox had asked the court for permission to liquidate.

While Mt. Gox’s ignominious end might raise doubts about the viability of the digital currency, Nelson pointed out that “some big names” are still investing..."

bitcoin-julia-zakharova-shutterstock.jpg

Image Credit: Julia Zakharova/Shutterstock


Richard
 
Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto Thanks Bitcoin Community: 'I Want to Hug You' - by Andrea Chang/ Tech Now/ Business/ The Los Angeles Times/ latimes.com

"For a guy who said he was sick of all the media attention, Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto sure does seem to like his 15 minutes of fame.

On Tuesday, the Temple City man who last month found himself in the midst of a media frenzy after Newsweek called him the creator of bitcoin, appeared in a YouTube video to thank his supporters..."

Richard
 
I just dont understand the rationale of bitcoin. This whole idea of a "safehaven" is absurd.

Bitcoin has only a few advantages IMO over "real" currency. That is the ability to buy things in anonymity over the internet, like if you were a junkie buying illegal drugs on the silk road website, or buying illegal firearms, again on silk road website, or paying for hookers on the backpage website.

The old way was to pay cash for a Amex gift card, use a web proxy and buy anonymously, but I guess the theory was theyd always be able to trace the location of your initial gift card purchase. Aparently not cloak and dagger enough.

Thankfully my vices accept cash and arent illegal.
 
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MULTIZ321 said:
“I hate gold. But right now, I’d rather own gold than Bitcoins.”

This sentiment comes from investment firm Belpoint’s chief strategist David Nelson.
Click to expand...

Many governments have been loading up on gold. Worried about the dollar, I guess. I won't say I am loading up but I have been slowly accumulating gold Eagles, silver Maple Leafs and silver Eagles.

George
 
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